Jury convicts business owner Robert Kahre of tax fraud

A federal jury found Las Vegas businessman Robert Kahre and three others guilty Friday of several felony tax crimes, including conspiracy to defraud the IRS, tax evasion and hiding assests.

Robert D. Kahre and his sister, Lori A. Kahre, each were convicted of intentionally and knowingly conspiring to defraud the federal government, U.S. Attorney Greg Brower of Nevada said.

Robert Kahre was also convicted of 49 counts of failure to collect or pay employment taxes, two counts of attempting to interfere with administration of IRS laws, four counts of tax evasion and one count of wire fraud.

Lori Kahre was also convicted of two counts of attempting to interfere with administration of IRS laws, one count of making a false statement to a bank and seven counts of tax evasion.

Robert Kahre faces up to 296 years in prison and fines of up to $14 million, Brower said. Lore Kahre faces up to 71 years in prison and fines of up to $2.75 million.

Robert Kahre's business consultant, Alexander C. Loglia, was convicted of one count of filing a false income tax return and 10 counts of tax evasion. He faces up to 53 years in prison and fines of up to $2.75 million.

Robert Kahre's girlfriend, Danille Cline, was convicted of one count of attempting to interfere with administering IRS laws and one count of wire fraud. She faces up to 23 years in prison and fines of up to $500,000.

Sentencing for all defendants is scheduled for 9 a.m. Nov. 17. The defendants have been released on personal recognizance bonds before the sentencing.

Robert Kahre and his associates were indicted in April 2005.

The trial lasted three months and the jury took two days to deliberate.

The indictments alleged that from 1998 through 2003 Kahre paid his employees and employees of other businesses with whom he contracted in gold, silver or cash from an office at 6270 Kimberly Ave.

No federal taxes were withheld from the paychecks and wages were not reported to the IRS, court records said.

Kahre also was accused of trying to evade income tax he owed for the years 1992 and 1993 in the amount of $1,000,453 and he attempted to conceal income from 1996 through 2005 by using straw buyers to purchase property in the names of his mother, girlfriend and stepfather.